Mobile has emerged on the scene faster than any other new medium over the past 90 years and mobile coupons are the category to watch, according Borrell Associate's “2010 Local Mobile Advertising & Promotions Forecast,” (Mobile Commerce Daily newsletter, April 2010).
A recent survey of over 2,250 U.S. adult Internet users, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that nearly half (46%) who own a mobile phone are somewhat likely to try out mobile coupons. Mobile coupon redemption rates averages are 10 times higher than traditional coupon and with mobile phone penetration in the U.S. well over 90%, it is the single most direct marketing channel there is. Mobile coupons are just going to get more and more popular.
Mobile Coupons
Mobile coupon are, permission based promotions where merchants send electronic coupons to a subscribers' mobile phones. Unlike other forms of electronic couponing (email / web) mobile coupons are read instantly with a 95% read rate. Mobile coupons may be delivered in a verity of digital forms, such as QR or data matrix barcodes, Universal Product Code (UPC), or via unique coupon code. The coupons can then be redeemed through special barcode scanners that read them or by inputting the unique number to a relevant website or a point-of-sale (POS) machine that prints out a paper coupon. Typically with small businesses the customer is required to simply showing the coupon at a retail outlet or restaurant to redeem the coupon.
Benefits of Mobile Coupons vs Traditional Coupon
Mobile coupons (m-coupons) are much more efficient in both delivery and cost than paper coupons. Using newspapers and coupon books sent through the U.S. mail do not offer any direct link between your business and the person who uses the coupon. A legitimate mobile coupon campaign is permission based, another words, there is a direct connection between your business offering the mobile coupon and the person choosing to use it. Thus, advertising and promotions using mobile coupons have a higher value and offer a direct link to the person urheilulehti tilaus using the coupons. For this reason mobile coupon promotions make for a great loyalty program.
In comparison, paper coupons cost anywhere between $0.25 and $0.40 per mailed coupon, with average redemption rates of around 1-3 percent, according to Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm. According to Frost & Sullivan, effective m-coupon solutions can benefit from high redemption rates. Email coupons have a redemption rate of 8 percent but lack the instant open rate of M-Coupons. For example, in August we launched a multi-channel campaign with Amigos Tex-Mex Restaurant which resulted in 24% redemption rate or 109 guests redeem the m-coupon, plus through a 'refer a friend campaign“ we added an additional 70 new subscribers during the 30 day campaign. A&P supermarket chained launched a m-coupon campaign with double digit redemptions rates and recently iHOP's m-coupon redemption hit 12% according to Mobile Commence Daily.
Business ROI
“For businesses, m-coupons seiskalehti offer a great ROI,” said Peter Conti, junior executive vice president at Borrell Associates, Richmond, VA. “Redemption rates are 10 times that of mail - or newspaper - distributed coupons. Small businesses are adapting to the mobile channel because it's cost effective and drives results. For example,traffics been a lite lately, you can formulate and execute a m-coupon promotion in a matter of minutes (no printer or mailer required) and when you consider 95% of text messages are read within a 30 minutes of receipt you can see double digit results within hours, depending upon the value proposition of your promotion of course. My small business clients are on average are getting a 12-15 percent increase in traffic just a single channel mobile promotion (not print or radio).
Consumers Benefits
According to Frost & Sullivan, consumer expectations from mobile coupons can be summarized as follows:
Convenience of portability - consumers do not have to carry paper coupons with them Ease of use (redemption) No additional costs to receive offers Privacy protection Non-intrusive coupon delivery (junk mail) Single interface for multiple offers Effective storage and presentation of delivered coupons Automatic updates Enhanced interactivity options Simple device requirements
Challenges of Mobile Coupons
The challenges associated with m-coupons are how redemption is handled to avoid abuse and how to achieve mass distribution. Unlike direct mail where you can essentially spam your community with paper coupons both email and m-coupons require the consumer to give permission or “opted into” the m-coupon campaign.